3D Printing with Fusion 360 E-Book

Sualp Ozel

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 469

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

As 3D printing gains traction, the demand for CAD experts in manufacturing grows. If you're a fan of Autodesk Fusion and crave hands-on experience with automated modeling, generative design, and the full potential of additive manufacturing, this book is your guide to elevating your design and 3D printing skills.
In this book, you’ll learn how to open CAD or Mesh files in Fusion and expertly repair, edit, and prepare them for 3D printing. You’ll unlock the secrets of effective print preparation, learning about print settings, support structures, and part orientation. This book also highlights Fusion’s diverse preferences designed specifically for additive manufacturing.
Subsequent chapters will guide you in choosing the right part orientation and position, as well as creating suitable support structures based on your chosen printing technology. You’ll simulate the printing process to detect and remedy common print failures associated with the metal powder bed fusion process. Finally, you’ll leverage templates and scripts to automate routine tasks around print preparation.
By the end of this 3D printing book, you'll be armed with the knowledge and skills necessary to harness the power of Fusion for additive manufacturing, meeting the growing demand with confidence.

Leseprobe

3D Printing with Fusion 360

Design for additive manufacturing, and level up your simulation and print preparation skills

Sualp Ozel

3D Printing with Fusion 360

Copyright © 2024 Packt Publishing

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First published: November 2023

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Published by Packt Publishing Ltd. Grosvenor House 11 St Paul’s Square Birmingham B3 1RB, UK

ISBN 978-1-80324-664-2

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I dedicate this book to my family. I love you with all my heart. To my wife, Marlene, you have been my champion and biggest supporter, not only while authoring this book, but throughout our joint life journey. To my sons, Kerem and Koray, thank you for listening to me during countless dinner conversations about 3D printing and for all your ideas about what to 3D print next. To my parents, Bijen and Suat. Thank you for your endless support, love, and inspiration.

Foreword

I have known and worked with Sualp Ozel for close to a decade, as one of the leading experts in Design Simulation and Additive manufacturing, he is my go to whenever I need to understand new developments and applications in the space. In this book, Sualp takes you on a learning journey from Design for Additive manufacturing, structural simulation, and print preparation through to process simulation and workflow automation.

The first section will get you familiar with the basics of Autodesk Fusion, from how to open new files or upload your existing models to the Fusion software for storage. Sualp demonstrates how to use Fusion to inspect and repair broken mesh files along with how to edit models so that they can be 3D printed effectively using various 3D-printing technologies. The section also covers how to use Fusion’s Automated Modeling, Topology Optimization and Stress Simulation capabilities in tandem to generate functional parts that meet performance and manufacturing criteria.

The book also covers hollowing and latticing parts and the various ways you can create lightweight and material saving models along with how to export them to common slicers such as Cura, PreForm and Prusa Slicer.

In the third section you learn all about the Manufacture workspace of Fusion, how to utilize it as a native slicer to prepare your parts for 3D printing. From how to use Fusion effectively to select a printer and print settings, arrange and orient your parts within your build volume, create support structures based on the needs of your specific printer.

The final section is all about metal printing and automation, where Sualp draws from his years of experience and expertise to explain the unique requirements of metal powder bed fusion printing, how to create efficient support structures and simulate the printing process to detect potential build failures and compensate for thermal distortion.

Understanding thesD-pritical areas can save hours of engineering time and the expense of failed prints. Throughout this book, Sualp provides all you need to learn the entire workflow from design to 3D print using the powerful capabilities in Fusion in clear and easy to read resource suitable for people just starting their 3d printing journey, through to those that are ready to adopt some of the most advanced design and simulation tools available.

Duann Scott

3MF Consortium Executive director

Teaching Assistant, MIT xPRO

Founder at Bits to Atoms and the CDFAM Computational Design SymposiumSeries

Contributors

About the author

Sualp Ozel is a professional engineer and a senior product manager at Autodesk Inc. Sualp has 15 years of experience in planning roadmaps based on market requirements to deliver timely enhancements to existing products and go to market with new offerings while meeting the market’s expectations and requirements for quality. Since 2016, he has managed Autodesk’s additive manufacturing software portfolio including Fusion, Netfabb, Netfabb Local Simulation, and Within Medical. Sualp has also been an adjunct instructor at Carnegie Mellon University since 2014, teaching the Introduction to CAD and CAE tools course within the mechanical engineering department.

I want to thank everyone who supported me in this journey.

Thank you to Anthony Graves for making sure I had the best HP Z2 workstation so I could work with Autodesk Fusion seamlessly.

Thank you to Pavel Pelčák and the Prusa research organization for providing me with access to FFF and SLA 3D printers and materials to use when writing the book.

I also want to thank everyone who worked on Autodesk Fusion. Without their work and commitment, the design-and-make community would not be where it is today.

Table of Contents

Preface

Part 1: Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) and Fusion

1

Opening, Inspecting, and Repairing CAD and Mesh files

Technical requirements

Opening and Uploading workflows for CAD models and Mesh files

Inserting Mesh workflows for STL, OBJ, and 3MF files

Inspecting Mesh bodies and repairing them

Summary

2

Editing CAD/Mesh Files with DFAM Principles in Mind

Technical requirements

Introduction to design history with Fusion 360

Parametric Modeling

Direct modeling

Recognizing CAD features and editing them

Working with Mesh files natively in Fusion 360

Editing inserted Mesh bodies as mesh bodies

Editing inserted Mesh bodies after converting them into solid bodies

Editing inserted Mesh bodies by recreating them as solid bodies

Summary

3

Creating Lightweight Parts, and Identifying and Fixing Potential Failures with Simulation

Technical requirements

Getting Started with Automated modeling

Utilizing Shape Optimization

Structural simulation to detect and fix common failures

Summary

4

Hollowing and Latticing Parts to Reduce Material and Energy Usage

Technical requirements

Hollowing parts

Creating drainage holes

Creating internal lattice structures

Summary

Part 2: Print Preparation – Creating an Additive Setup

5

Tessellating Models and Exporting Mesh Files to Third-Party Slicers

Technical requirements

Common mesh file formats and their differences

STL format

OBJ format

3MF format

Tessellation, a critical step for 3D printing with non-Fusion 360 slicers

Tessellating a solid body

Tessellating a body with a volumetric lattice

Exporting mesh files or sending models to your slicer

Exporting models directly to third-party slicers

Exporting models directly to non-Fusion 360 slicers

Exporting models out of Fusion 360

Summary

6

Introducing the Manufacture Workspace for Print Preparation

Technical requirements

Using the derive workflow to manage model changes for print preparation

Creating Manufacturing Models for 3D Printing

Common part modifications for 3D Printing

Summary

7

Creating Your First Additive Setup

Technical requirements

Fusion 360 preferences and settings for 3D printing

Machine selection and creating an additive setup

Print settings and creating an additive setup

Part 3: Print Preparation – Positioning Parts, Generating Supports, and Toolpaths

8

Arranging and Orienting Components

Technical requirements

Positioning Components Manually

Orienting Components Automatically

Arranging Components Automatically

Summary

9

Print Settings

Technical requirements

Overview of print settings for Fused Filament fabrication

General

Body Presets

Overview of print settings for SLA and DLP

Assigning unique print settings to bodies

Summary

10

Support Structures

Technical requirements

Volume and bar supports for FFF printing

Bar supports for SLA and DLP printing

Base plate supports for SLA and DLP printing

Summary

11

Slicing Models and Simulating the Toolpath

Technical requirements

Generating an additive toolpath

Simulating an additive toolpath

Generating G-code

Summary

Part 4: Metal Printing, Process Simulation, and Automation

12

3D Printing with Metal Printers

Technical requirements

Introduction to Metal 3D printing

3D printing with metal powder bed fusion machines

Setter supports for a successful sintering process

Summary

13

Simulating the MPBF Process

Technical requirements

Setting up a process simulation

Interpreting the results

Compensating for distortions and updating the setup

Summary

14

Automating Repetitive Tasks

Technical requirements

Using apps from the Autodesk App Store

Customizing presets and using templates

Automating additive workflows with scripting

Summary

Index

Other Books You May Enjoy

Preface

As 3D printing is becoming mainstream, the demand for Computer-Aided Design (CAD) users with manufacturing knowledge is growing. You may have noticed that new capabilities around automated modeling, generative design, and additive manufacturing are now available in Autodesk Fusion. If you are interested in learning how you can benefit from these tools and improve your design and 3D-printing skills using Fusion, this book is for you.

In this book, you will learn how to open CAD and mesh files in Fusion, repair and edit them, and prepare them for 3D printing. In the context of print preparation, you will be introduced to print settings, support structures, and part orientation. The book will also highlight the various preferences of Fusion for additive manufacturing. In subsequent chapters, you will learn about choosing the right orientation and creating appropriate support structures based on printing technology and you will simulate the printing process to detect and remedy common print failures associated with the metal powder bed fusion process. This book will also cover how to arrange parts depending on the printing technology. By the end of this book, you will be acquainted with utilizing templates and scripts to automate common tasks around print preparation.

By the end of this book, you will have gained all the knowledge necessary to use Fusion for additive manufacturing.

Important note

This book has been authored in my own personal capacity and the views are my own, and not as an Autodesk employee, and the information in this book does not necessarily represent the views of Autodesk or its partners.

Who this book is for

If you’re a designer using Autodesk Fusion daily and would like to learn how to 3D print your designs, or if you’re interested in creating functional yet lightweight prints, this book is for you. Intermediate-level users of Fusion will benefit from having this book as a reference for design for additive manufacturing (DFAM) and print preparation.

Ideally, you need a rudimentary understanding of the design capabilities of Fusion before you start reading this book. Being able to create basic designs and knowing how to open existing CAD or mesh files with Fusion will allow you to get the most out of this book.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Opening, Inspecting, and Repairing CAD and Mesh Files, explains how, in order to 3D print an object, you need a 3D model or the sliced version of that model, typically referred to as a G-code file. You don’t always have to design the object in CAD software yourself. There are various websites where you can download solid models or mesh files. To go from design to 3D printing, you generally need a slicing software. But before you can slice a model you downloaded from the web, it is a good idea to make sure that the model is free of errors and is the correct size for your printer. In this chapter, we will open CAD and mesh files from third-party sources using Autodesk Fusion, check them for errors, and repair them if necessary.

Chapter 2, Editing CAD/Mesh Files with DFAM Principles in Mind, covers how Fusion can be used with or without design history being captured. In this chapter, we will highlight how to enable capturing design history after opening non-native CAD files. You will be introduced to editing CAD files you open in Fusion based on a set of DFAM principles. This chapter will also explore how to edit mesh files directly. The chapter will conclude by showcasing how to convert mesh files into solid objects to be edited for manufacturing.

Chapter 3, Creating Lightweight Parts, and Identifying and Fixing Potential Failures with Simulation, discusses one of the main benefits of additive manufacturing, which is the ability to create lightweight parts. The automated modeling capabilities within the Design workspace and the shape optimization analysis type within the Simulation workspace of Autodesk Fusion are great tools for designers to create organic-looking lightweight components. In this chapter, we will showcase how to create such components. We will also simulate them using linear static stress in order to detect possible failures our 3D-printed designs may experience and remedy such issues with targeted modeling modifications.

Chapter 4, Hollowing and Latticing Parts to Reduce Material and Energy Usage, explains how, when manufacturing large-volume components using Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printers, we can make them strong yet lightweight by utilizing a combination of multiple contour lines around the perimeter in combination with a sparse infill. However, this same technique does not work for other 3D-printing technologies such as stereolithography, multi-jet fusion, or selective laser sintering. When creating parts to prototype using those technologies, designers must proactively think about how to make lightweight parts to reduce material and energy usage. One method a designer can utilize is to hollow and lattice parts prior to printing to mimic the effects created using a contour and an infill. Designers also must include drain holes as well as plugs for the resin or the powder to escape during the post-processing phase. In this chapter, we will highlight various tools Fusion has to create such designs.

Chapter 5, Tessellating Models and Exporting Mesh Files to Third-Party Slicers, explains how Autodesk Fusion has a built-in slicer (which will be covered in the following chapters); however, Fusion’s slicer does not support all the 3D printers on the market. There are certain 3D printers that have their proprietary slicing software. In certain organizations, a software manager may require a certain slicing software to be used by a manufacturing engineer. Or you may simply wish to use a slicing software you are already familiar with. In such cases, after going through the first four chapters of this book, you may want to export your models to your preferred slicer. In this chapter, we will go over the various methods with which you can export your Fusion models to your preferred slicer.

Chapter 6, Introducing the Manufacture Workspace for Print Preparation, explains how, when designers create an assembly of parts, they don’t anticipate all the parts of that assembly to be 3D printed. Any part that is designated to be 3D printed may have to be altered before manufacturing it. Making changes to individual parts for 3D printing and keeping track of those changes can be tricky. Autodesk Fusion offers multiple methods to deal with such challenges. For users who want to manage the relationship between a design for assembly versus a design for manufacturing externally, the derive workflow is the ideal solution. For users who wish to manage this relationship in a single Fusion design, the manufacturing model is the way to go. In this chapter, we will go over how to utilize both of these workflows and highlight the benefits and drawbacks of each method, while showcasing common examples of design changes you may want to make for 3D printing.

Chapter 7, Creating Your First Additive Setup, describes how, in Autodesk Fusion, a critical first step for 3D printing is to create an additive manufacturing setup. This simple yet powerful dialog includes choices for selecting the 3D printer and the associated print settings. Understanding how the machine and print setting libraries operate and how to customize those libraries with your 3D printers and print settings will greatly reduce the time required for you to go from design to printed part. In this chapter, we will also highlight various Fusion preferences related to 3D printing, which will improve your experience and save you time.

Chapter 8, Arranging and Orienting Components, teaches you that regardless of whether you’re printing a single component or hundreds of them at the same time, arranging them within the build volume and orienting them based on the desired outcome is an important consideration to get a successful print. This chapter will go over the various 3D-printing technologies and how to best arrange and orient components for each technology. In this chapter, we will highlight how to manually translate and orient components. We will also showcase how to automatically orient parts and arrange them based on a given criteria, such as minimizing the build height or finding an orientation that will result in a minimum support structure volume.

Chapter 9, Print Settings, explains how, once the printing orientation and position of a given component are decided, you can simply slice the model and generate the toolpath to send it to a 3D printer. In certain cases, it may be necessary to edit the default print setting to change a certain aspect of the printing process. For example, you may want to add a skirt or a brim to improve print bed adhesion. You may want to decrease the infill density or increase the number of contours. In some cases, you may want to use a different print setting for a different part of the print. All these possibilities and more will be explored in this chapter.

Chapter 10, Support Structures, teaches you that most mainstream additive manufacturing technologies require support structures to be generated and printed for sections of components that have overhanging surfaces. This chapter highlights the bar and volume support structures that can be used for both FFF and SLA/DLP printing and how they differ based on the printing technology. You will also learn about the base plate support type and how it can be used in conjunction with bar supports with pads for SLA/DLP printing.

Chapter 11, Slicing Models and Simulating the Toolpath, describes how, once all the components we wish to print are arranged, oriented, and properly supported, it is time to generate the additive toolpath. Then, we can visualize the slices layer by layer as well as the movement of the extruder and/or laser. Generating the additive toolpath is a one-click solution in Autodesk Fusion, but it is recommended to review the toolpath simulation to understand whether the print settings we have chosen will result in the desired outcome. This chapter will highlight how to create the additive toolpath and simulate it.

Chapter 12, 3D Printing with Metal Printers, explains how Fusion and its extensions can be utilized for creating additive setups for metal powder bed fusion machines. Fusion users who are interested in setting up their metal prints need to pay special attention to their part position and orientation based on certain machine parameters, such as recorter blade and gas flow directions. In addition, metal printing requires unique support structures in order to minimize material waste, decrease print time, and minimize post-processing effort. This chapter will touch on part orientation based on recorder blade and unique support structure settings for metal 3D printing.

Chapter 13, Simulating the MPBF Process, tells you that metal powder is an expensive form of 3D printing material. Therefore, any mistake or print failure is a costly one when it comes to metal 3D printing. Fusion users with Manufacturing extension access can simulate their metal powder bed fusion printing process to detect and rectify common print failure modes such as part distortion and recorter blade interference. In this chapter, we will highlight how to perform such analyses and make the necessary changes to avoid common print failure modes.

Chapter 14, Automating Repetitive Tasks, highlights how to automate various aspects of Fusion to minimize our interaction with the software to create an additive setup and generate a toolpath. If you plan on using Fusion for additive manufacturing regularly, this chapter is for you. We will start the chapter by highlighting existing automations within Fusion’s ecosystem by introducing you to the Fusion App Store. Next, we will highlight how to customize Fusion’s machine and print setting libraries to create a fully defined machine you can utilize when creating your setups. You will then learn how to customize your inputs for various operations, such as automatic orientation studies, part arrangement, and support structure generation. We will also demonstrate how to save those inputs as user defaults. Next, we will create and save templates, which combine multiple operations into a single file that can be reused on subsequent additive setups. We will end the chapter by highlighting how to utilize Fusion’s programming capabilities by creating a Python script to automate the entire process of generating an additive setup, orienting parts, arranging them within the build plate, and simulating the additive toolpath.

To get the most out of this book

Software/hardware covered in the book

Operating system requirements

Autodesk Fusion

Windows and macOS

Autodesk Netfabb

PrusaSlicer, Formlabs PreForm, and UltiMaker Cura

Download the example project files

You can download the example project files for this book from GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/3D-Printing-with-Fusion-360. If there’s an update to the code, it will be updated in the GitHub repository.

We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: we can use the Insert Mesh command and insert the Clip_broken.STL file into our active Fusion design document.

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold. Here is an example: In addition to centering and grounding a mesh body, we can also use the in-canvas manipulators (arrows and rotation tools) or the numerical inputs section within the INSERT MESH dialog to reposition the mesh body until we are satisfied.

Tips or important notes

Appear like this.

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Part 1: Design for Additive Manufacturing (DFAM) and Fusion

In this part, we will show you how to open solid or mesh designs created in other software in Autodesk Fusion. You will learn how to create and edit models using parametric modeling and direct modeling techniques. You will learn how to work with mesh files to repair them both manually and automatically, using various methods within the software.

You will also learn how to create automated models as well as topology-optimized models to generate lightweight components for 3D printing. You will learn how to simulate models created by the software to make sure that they can perform as desired under operating conditions.

We will end the first part by going over how to hollow large-volume parts and introduce internal lattices to aid with additive manufacturing.

This part has the following chapters:

Chapter 1, Opening, Inspecting, and Repairing CAD and Mesh filesChapter 2, Editing CAD/Mesh Files with DFAM Principles in MindChapter 3, Creating Lightweight Parts, and Identifying and Fixing Potential Failures with SimulationChapter 4, Hollowing and Latticing Parts to Reduce Material and Energy Usage

1

Opening, Inspecting, and Repairing CAD and Mesh files

Welcome to this book, 3D Printing with Fusion 360. Fusion is a great tool to create and edit designs using parametric or direct modeling methods. With the addition of automated modeling, generative design, and topology optimization technologies, Fusion users now have a plethora of methods to design for additive manufacturing. This book will provide the necessary steps for you to manufacture your designs with Fusion, using common 3D-printing technologies such as fused filament fabrication, stereolithography, selective laser sintering, binder jetting, and metal powder bed fusion. You will also get valuable tips and tricks on how to set up Fusion, which will allow you to get the most out of the software for your 3D-printing needs.

Fusion is a cloud-based 3D modeling, Computer Aided Design (CAD), Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), computer aided engineering (CAE), and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) design software platform for professional product design and manufacturing (https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview).

It is available for both Windows and macOS, with simplified applications available for both Android and iOS. Fusion 360’s initial release dates back to 2013, which is around the same time that 3D printing became mainstream. During the 2010s, the maker community quickly adopted Fusion 360 for designing and manufacturing.

When manufacturing designs using 3D printing, mesh (STL) files were the only file types that early 3D printing slicer software would accept as input. As the maker community created and shared their designs publicly using STL files on web pages such as thingiverse.com, the number of 3D printable designs increased exponentially. Unfortunately, the STL file format has many problems and limitations. To fix those problems, the 3D printing community needed reliable and easy-to-use software.

Fusion always included functionality around working with both CAD and mesh files, making it a great tool for 3D printing. However, Fusion 360’s mesh functionality was offered as a technology preview and needed to be turned on within Fusion 360’s preferences. Autodesk – the parent company of Fusion 360 – releases new updates for Fusion 360 regularly. With the July 2021 update of Fusion 360, Autodesk made significant changes to the mesh workflows, by graduating the mesh workspace from being a part of a tech preview to being a part of Fusion's Design workspace.

Today, you can use Fusion to open, inspect, and repair mesh files that you can download from numerous third-party sources.

In this chapter, we will start by looking at the various ways we can bring CAD/mesh data into Fusion by introducing you to Fusion Team and the Fusion user interface. We will go over how to create projects and folders to better organize our data. Next, we will show numerous methods to insert mesh files such as STL, OBJ, and 3MF into Fusion. We will end the chapter by inspecting the mesh data we insert into Fusion for potential defects and repairing those defects automatically and manually.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

Opening and uploading workflows for CAD models and mesh filesInserting Mesh workflows for STL, OBJ, and 3MF filesInspecting Mesh bodies and repairing them

By the end of this chapter, you will have learned how to open models created using other tools in Fusion. You will have learned how to insert mesh files into Fusion. You will also know how to inspect and repair mesh files using automatic and manual methods.

Technical requirements

Most of the topics covered in this book apply to all licensing levels (personal/hobby, start-up, educational, and commercial) of Fusion. However, the book will also cover advanced functionality not available to personal/hobby use licenses. Such advanced functionality will be identified as N/A for Personal Use, and Requires Access to Extensionas appropriate.

Fusion has the following system-specific requirements:

Apple® macOS:macOS 13 Ventura – version 2.0.15289 or newermacOS 12 MontereymacOS 11 Big SurMicrosoft Windows:Windows 11Windows 10 (64-bit) – version 1809 or newerCPU, memory, and disk space requirements:x86-based 64-bit processor (for example, Intel Core i and AMD Ryzen series), 4 cores, and 1.7 GHz or greater; 32-bit is not supported. Apple silicon processors require Rosetta 2.4 GB of RAM and 8.5 GB of storage.

Important note

A detailed list of system requirements can be found here: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/fusion-360/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/System-requirements-for-Autodesk-Fusion-360.html.

The lesson files for this chapter can be found here: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/3D-Printing-with-Fusion-360.

Opening and Uploading workflows for CAD models and Mesh files

Fusion is a cloud-connected CAD/CAM/CAE and PCB design tool. You can create new designs or open designs created in other tools that are saved as CAD or mesh files. In this section, we will cover all the ways you can open models created by other software in Fusion so that we can start getting them ready for 3D printing.

As Fusion is cloud-connected software, it has cloud storage and data-sharing capabilities built in. As a Fusion user, you automatically get access to a cloud-connected data storage and management tool called Fusion Team. This tool also allows you to administer your team of Fusion users by giving you tools for permissions, version control, markup, and comments. According to an Autodesk Knowledge Network article, Fusion users automatically get unlimited storage for Fusion data and 500 GB of data storage for non-Fusion documents. That is a generous amount of storage to tackle any project.

Important note

For more information on how cloud data storage works, you can refer to this article at https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/fusion-360/learn-explore/caas/sfdcarticles/sfdcarticles/How-big-is-the-cloud-storage-for-Fusion.html.

After creating an Autodesk account and gaining access to Fusion, regardless of your licensing level, you can log in to your Fusion Team account (https://myhub.autodesk360.com/) and start your Fusion data management journey.

If you are an individual user, you don’t have to worry about changing teams. However, if you work for an organization with multiple Fusion users, your organization may have multiple teams already set up. For example, each user may have their own team. You can switch the active team by selecting the profile icon in the top-right corner of the screen, as shown in the following screenshot:

Figure 1.1 – My FUSION TEAM view with an OWNED BY ME filter applied

Figure 1.1 shows my Fusion TEAM view on a Google Chrome browser with the OWNED BY ME filter applied to the list of projects. If I were part of an organization with multiple teams, I would select the Profile icon in the top-right corner and change my active team to participate in a project stored in another team’s hub. Figure 1.1 also shows that, by default, we have two items that are owned by me – Assets and My First Project.

In Figure 1.2, you can see that by selecting My First Project and expanding Project Details, we can edit the project name and image and manage members who can contribute to and view the contents of this project:

Figure 1.2 – You can rename projects on the Project Details screen

Once the project has a name we approve (in Figure 1.2, I renamed the project 3D printing), we can take a look at various methods we have available to upload designs and other documents to Fusion Team and Fusion.

The first option we have to upload our designs and documents to Fusion Team is within the created project itself. As shown in Figure 1.3, we are in a project named 3D printing, and we can select the blue Upload button to see the various options we have to upload things, such as File, Folder, Assembly, and From Dropbox. If we select File from that dropdown, we can upload any file stored on our local storage directly to our active project on Fusion TEAM. If the files we upload contain mesh or CAD geometry (for example, STL, STEP, SAT, Inventor, or Solidworks), we will be able to open those designs in Fusion for further editing and manufacturing. If they are non-CAD files (for example, Microsoft Word documents or PDF files), we won’t have native access to them in Fusion, but we can still view them in our internet browser or mobile apps.

Figure 1.3 – Uploading local files to our 3D printing project on Fusion TEAM

If you are used to traditional desktop CAD software, uploading files to a Fusion project using FUSION TEAM may not have the intuitive workflow you are familiar with. However, it is a useful way to quickly upload multiple files associated with a project to your Autodesk cloud storage.

If you seek a more traditional workflow to open your CAD or mesh files, you will want to have Fusion installed on your computer. You can download and install Fusion from the following link: https://www.autodesk.com/content/autodesk/global/en/products/fusion-360/trial-intake.

Once Fusion is installed and started, you can access the File dropdown and select Open. When you do, you will be greeted with the Open dialog. As shown in Figure 1.4, select the Open from my computer… option within this dialog, and you will be able to select from a list of supported mesh and CAD file types, as shown in Figure 1.5:

Figure 1.4 – The File | Open... workflow allows you to open CAD and mesh files from your computer

In this dialog, you will have the option to open any of the Mesh or CAD file types that Fusion supports. As Autodesk regularly updates Fusion, you never have to worry about not having access to the latest CAD translators:

Figure 1.5 – A list of the available CAD and MESH file types that Fusion can open

This is a great option to open a single file quickly, but there are several downsides to this option:

You can only open one file at a time using this method.When using this method, you end up in Direct Modeling mode upon opening a CAD file. If you want to capture design history, you will need to manually turn on the design history using the browser. Modeling with the Design history and Direct modeling methods will be covered in detail in Chapter 2.You do not get a chance to set the units or part placement when opening STL/OBJ files.

In conclusion, if you try to open STL or OBJ files, this is not the option I would recommend. However, if you open a CAD file (for example, STEP or SAT) or a 3MF file, this is a quick and easy option that you may want to use. Don’t forget to manually turn on Capture Design History if you want to store your edits in the timeline, as shown in Figure 1.6:

Figure 1.6 - After a File | Open... workflow, turn on Capture Design History via the browser

Another option available when opening CAD and Mesh files is within Fusion's Data Panel. You can access the Data Panel window by selecting the Show Data Panel icon, located in the top-left corner of the interface, as shown in Figure 1.7.

Figure 1.7 - Show/Hide Data Panel

Once the data panel is visible, you can navigate to the team and project where you wish to upload your design data. Once in the appropriate project, you can create new folders to organize your designs and documents further. Once you are in the desired project/folder location, you can use the Upload button, as shown in Figure 1.8, and select or drag and drop files to the upload dialog that is on your screen. Either option will allow you to upload multiple CAD or mesh files to the designated team/project/ folder location. Please note that each uploaded file will become its own Fusion design document.

Figure 1.8 – Uploading multiple Mesh and CAD documents to Fusion using the Data Panel

This is a great option to upload multiple CAD models to Fusion. However, just like the previous option, you will have to turn on Capture Design History if you want to store your edits in the timeline, as shown in Figure 1.6. And just like the previous option, this method is not one I would recommend opening STL or OBJ files, as it does not give you initial control over units of part placement during the import process.

Another lesser known but rather useful option is based on the Fusion mobile app. If you have a mobile device, you can download the Fusion app from the relevant app store, and you can browse for and upload CAD or Mesh files stored on your phone or tablet, as shown in Figure 1.9:

Figure 1.9 – A view on a mobile device after uploading an STL file to Fusion Team

This method is particularly useful if you do not have your computer available when you receive a CAD or mesh file. In such instances, you can quickly upload the design to your Fusion Team/project/folder so that you and your team members can start working on the design right away. Just like the previous methods, this method also requires that you manually turn on the Capture Design History within Fusion's browser if you want to store your edits in the timeline, as shown in Figure 1.6.

Important note

If you upload an STL/OBJ file to Fusion Team or the Fusion app, after opening it in Fusion, you will have to inspect the units and the position of the mesh body to make sure it matches the original design intent. Fusion uses centimeters as the default unit system when creating Fusion design documents from mesh file types with no units.

For example, imagine an STL file that represents a sphere with a diameter of 10 mm. As STL files do not contain unit data, if we use the upload workflow on this STL, as shown in Figure 1.8, to Fusion Team, the resulting Fusion design document will be a sphere with a diameter of 10 cm.

Now that we have learned about the various ways we can open and upload both CAD and mesh files, it’s time to start focusing on workflows specific to mesh bodies. In the next section, we will learn how to insert mesh files directly into our Fusion design documents.

Inserting Mesh workflows for STL, OBJ, and 3MF files

Even though we can upload mesh files to Fusion Team and simply open them in Fusion after the upload is complete, my personal preference when opening mesh files is the Insert Mesh command located within the DESIGN workspace | the Mesh tab | the CREATE panel. Using the Insert Mesh command, you can insert one or multiple mesh bodies into an active Fusion design. You do not need to save the design as a Fusion document before inserting the mesh files. This is an important distinction, as a similar workflow to insert all Fusion bodies/components, which rely on the Insert Derive function (as shown in Figure 1.10) located within DESIGN | Solid, Surface, Mesh, Sheet Metal, and Plastic | Insert Derive, require a Fusion design to be saved before inserting externally referenced Fusion designs into an active design:

Figure 1.10 – Insert Mesh versus Insert Derive

If you are inserting a single mesh (STL or OBJ) file, you will have the ability to edit the location and units for that mesh file at the time of insertion. If you import multiple mesh (STL or OBJ) files, the location and unit data you edit during the insert operation apply to all the files you insert simultaneously. Because of this, my preferred method is to insert the mesh files individually so that I can visually inspect them and edit their location and units one at a time, especially if I insert mesh files created by different designers, as they may have used different unit systems and coordinate systems.

Now, let’s focus on the Insert Mesh command and some of its options. For this first exercise, we will insert the CLIP.STL file. After initiating the Insert Mesh command and selecting the STL file, you will see the INSERT MESH dialog, with options to change the units and reposition the part. The Flip Up Direction button rotates the part around the X axis by 90 degrees. The Center button moves the inserted mesh by referencing the center of its bounding box to the origin of the active component. The Move To Ground button translates the mesh body so that its lowest point touches the ground plane. In Figure 1.11, the ground plane is the XY plane:

Figure 1.11 – The INSERT MESH dialog

In addition to centering and grounding a mesh body, we can also use the in-canvas manipulators (arrows and rotation tools) or the numerical inputs section within the INSERT MESH dialog to reposition the mesh body until we are satisfied. We can always revert our actions with the Reset button.

In this example, let’s first use the Center command, then the Move To Ground command, and press OK.

Important note

The default model orientation can be set in Fusion's Preferences dialog in the General section. This book will rely on the Z up orientation for all examples.

The default units for every new design can be set in Fusion's Preferences dialog in the Default Units section’s Design subsection. This book will rely on millimeters as default units for all new designs.

The default state of design history can be set in Fusion's Preferences dialog in the General section’s Design subsection. This book will rely on Capture Design History (parametric modeling) for all new designs.

All these preferences can be seen in Figure 1.12:

Figure 1.12 – Various sections within Fusion's Preferences dialog

After we finish inserting this STL file, we will be left with a base mesh feature added to the timeline, and the mesh body located on the XY plane will be centered around the origin, as you can see in Figure 1.13:

Figure 1.13 – The Insert Mesh command completed

Unlike STL files, 3MF and OBJ files can also contain color information. Now, let’s insert the CLIP.3MF file using the same Insert Mesh command into a new design file. In Fusion, we can create a new design file by selecting the + icon to the right of our list of open Fusion design documents. After inserting a 3MF file, Fusion shows the mesh body with a unique color for each face group. A face group is a collection of faces that typically represent a feature or a region on a mesh body. This 3MF file is made of a single face group. Therefore, we will see a single color on all the faces after inserting this file into Fusion. We can visualize the color information contained within the 3MF and OBJ files by toggling face group visualization, using the Display Mesh Face Groups command in the INSPECT panel, as shown in Figure 1.14:

Figure 1.14 – 3MF and OBJ files can contain color

Important note

As shown in Figure 1.15, the Apply a different appearance checkbox must be unchecked in Fusion’s Preferences dialog | General section | Material subsection, in order to display color information contained within a 3MF or OBJ file opened in Fusion, using the Insert Mesh workflow previously described.

Figure 1.15 – The Material subsection in Fusion's Preferences dialog

In this section, we learned about the various methods we can use to insert mesh files such as STL, OBJ, and 3MF. We also covered how to set units and relocate mesh bodies during the insert workflow. In addition, we went over how to visualize the color/texture data for those files.

Now, it is time to start focusing on workflows specific to inspecting mesh bodies we insert for potential problems and repairing them. In the next section, we will learn how to utilize the automatic inspection and repair functionality within the Mesh tab and start exploring how to manually repair Mesh bodies when the automatic repair is not enough.

Inspecting Mesh bodies and repairing them

STL is a simple file format and is widely used in 3D printing. Almost all 2D and 3D design software has been able to create STL files since its invention back in 1987. Because of its simplicity, long history, and wide availability, most STL files in existence contain errors and are generally in need of repair before they can be used for manufacturing.

In this section, we will learn how to inspect the mesh bodies we insert into Fusion and how to repair broken STL files using automatic and manual repair techniques, in order to prepare them for 3D printing.

To demonstrate the various methods we can use to inspect and repair mesh bodies, we will use an STL file called Clip_Broken.STL. Let’s start by creating a new Fusion design, as shown in Figure 1.14.

Now, we can use the Insert Mesh command and insert the Clip_broken.STL file into our active Fusion design document. Just like the last example, let’s utilize the Center and Move To Ground functionalities in the Insert Mesh dialog consecutively to translate the part closer to the origin and above the XY plane. Now, we can look at the details of the mesh body we just inserted.

Fusion automatically inspects all mesh bodies inserted and displays a warning icon next to any problematic mesh body. As shown in Figure 1.16, if you expand the bodies list in the browser, you will see a mesh body named Clip_Broken, and next to it, you will see a warning icon. If you hover over the warning icon, you will see the following information about the mesh body:

Mesh is not closed.Mesh is not oriented.Mesh does not have positive volume.

When we see such information, we often need to take repair actions before we can proceed to 3D-print the files:

Figure 1.16 – A warning icon next to a problematic mesh body

Another useful tool for inspecting problematic mesh bodies is the PROPERTIES dialog. If you select a given mesh body, right-click, and select Properties, you can see a detailed list of information about the mesh body, as shown in Figure 1.17.

In this example, you can see that this mesh body does not have a mass or volume, even though it has been automatically assigned a physical material (Steel) with a density. This is another indication that this mesh body does not enclose a volume. Refer back to Figure 1.15, which shows the logic behind the automatic material assignment within the Material subsection of the Fusion Preferences dialog.

Important note

A common term used in 3D printing to describe bodies that properly enclose a volume is watertight. Having a watertight body is a desirable feature when attempting to 3D-print objects. However, just because an object is not watertight does not mean it is not 3D-printable. In metal powder bed fusion 3D printing, support structures are often made up of surfaces (not watertight bodies). We will cover this topic in more detail in Chapter 12.

If you expand the Mesh subheading, you will see that this mesh body has two shells. A shell is a collection of triangles (and sometimes quadrilaterals) that are connected to one another. If a mesh body is made up of multiple shells, it often indicates a broken continuity of the triangles that make up a mesh body.

Sometimes, a mesh body can have multiple shells and still be valid. For example, imagine a hollow sphere. In such a case, you would have one shell that represents the outside of the sphere and another shell that represents the inner boundary.

If you expand the Mesh Analysis subsection, you will see that this mesh body is not closed, not oriented, and does not have a positive volume:

Figure 1.17 – The PROPERTIES dialog shows the relevant mesh analysis information

Now that we understand we have a problematic mesh body on our hands, we can close the PROPERTIES dialog, and select the Repair icon on the ribbon in the MESH tab | the PREPARE panel.

Fusion has four automatic repair types. Let’s start by selecting the Close Holes repair type, which fixes flipped triangles and closes holes. If we activate the preview checkbox within the REPAIR dialog and expand the detailed analysis, we can edit the sliders to see the impact of the selected repair type on the body we wish to repair. Figure 1.18 shows that this repair type will automatically fix the part so that it can be 3D-printed, but a visual inspection of the outcome looks cluttered, with many triangles overlapping each other.

Figure 1.18 – The Close Holes repair type and its impact on this part

Even though the outcome of this automatic repair is reported as a success, it is always a good idea to perform a visual check and review the details of the mesh body properties. Figure 1.19 shows the PROPERTIES dialog for the Clip_Broken mesh body after we performed the Close Holes repair type. Here, we can see that this mesh is made up of 66 shells. This is an unexpected outcome, and a visual inspection of the part shows problematic zones, as highlighted in red ovals. This part is a symmetrical part along the XZ plane, yet the automatic repair closed one of the holes instead of creating the desired countersink hole type outcome:

Figure 1.19 – The PROPERTIES dialog shows the outcome of repaired mesh body

Now, let’s use the Edit Feature command on the repair action we just performed, by selecting it from the timeline at the bottom of Fusion's user interface and right-clicking on it, as shown in Figure 1.20. This time, we can change our repair type to Stitch and Remove. This repair action includes all the repairs that the previous repair type executed, and stitch triangles remove double triangles and degenerate faces, as well as tiny shells. Using this repair type takes a little bit longer, but the outcomes look much better. As you can see in Figure 1.20, we no longer look at a cluttered mesh in the region highlighted with the large red oval. However, we still have the same issue of not having the desired outcome of the countersink hole:

Figure 1.20 – The Stitch and Remove repair type and its impact on this part

Before we move on to the next repair type, let’s take a closer look at our part by adding a section analysis. To add a section analysis, we must use the Section Analysis command located in the INSPECT panel. After we select the cut plane as the XZ plane and flip the segment we want to section, we can easily see that this mesh represents a hollowed-out object, as shown in Figure 1.21. Looking at our part with a section analysis, it makes more sense why we saw a shell count of two within the PROPERTIES dialog:

Figure 1.21 – A section analysis shows this mesh body is a hollow object

While the section analysis is visible, as denoted by the gray eye icon next to Section1 in the browser, we can edit our repair from the timeline and utilize the third repair type, called Wrap. This repair type makes the same repairs as Stitch and Remove and wraps the surface of the mesh body, removing all inner structures. As you can see in Figure 1.22, the outcome of this repair type removes the secondary shell inside our part, making our body a solid object. In this example, our goal was not to make such a drastic change to this part. Therefore, we will edit the repair one more time and move on to the fourth option. However, in some cases where the inner shell is also in need of major repair, this repair type could easily remove the triangles that belong to the inner shell, speeding up the mesh repair steps:

Figure 1.22 – The Wrap repair type and its impact on this part with a section analysis view

The fourth and final repair type is called Rebuild. There are multiple rebuild types available, and in Figure 1.23, you can see the outcome of a fast rebuild type with an average mesh density. This repair type reconstructs the mesh body and is the slowest repair type based on your density input. It can be used as a last resort when automatically repairing parts. However, the mesh outcome of this repair type has a high triangle count, and this repair type does a less desirable job of capturing details around sharp edges.

Figure 1.23 – The Rebuild repair type and its impact on this part with a section analysis view

Now that we have covered all four repair types, let’s edit a repair action, reuse the Stitch and Remove repair type, as its outcome was the most desirable for this part. This repair type also happens to be the default repair type recommended by Fusion.

None of the repair types were able to detect and repair the missing surface around the countersink hole. It looks like we will have to do some manual mesh editing actions to fix this issue. Let’s start by cutting the part in two, using the Plane Cut feature located in the MODIFY panel. The Clip_Broken mesh body is the body we will select to cut, and the cut plane will be the XZ plane. We will use the Trim type to remove the unwanted section and use the Minimal fill type to turn the remaining mesh body into a watertight object.

Figure 1.24 – Trimming the mesh body using the Plane Cut tool

Once we have cut the mesh body in half, we will have to create a component from the mesh body in order to mirror it. Figure 1.25 shows how to create a component from a trimmed mesh body – by right-clicking on it in the browser and selecting the Create Components from Bodies option.

Figure 1.25 – Creating a new component from the trimmed mesh body

Once we have a component, we can toggle to the SOLID tab. We can select the Mirror command located under the CREATE panel. Once the MIRROR dialog is visible, we will have to change our object type to Components and select the newly created component to mirror. Our mirror plane will once again be the XZ plane. The outcome of the mirror action can be seen in Figure 1.26:

Figure 1.26 – Mirroring a component

After we mirror our component, we will end up with two mesh bodies within two components. It is time to combine them into a single unified component. To accomplish this, let’s go back to the MESH tab and utilize the combine command located within the MODIFY panel. We will have to select a target body and a tool body, which will be the Clip_Broken mesh bodies from the two components. We will utilize the join operation, create a new component, and keep the tools. This will ensure that we can easily compare the outcome and the input if desired in the future. Figure 1.27 shows the necessary input to combine two mesh bodies to make a new component:

Figure 1.27 – Combining mesh bodies to make a new component

The outcome of the combined operation is a fully repaired body in a new component named Component3 in the browser. Figure 1.28 shows this new component while hiding the section analysis, as well as the first and second components:

Figure 1.28 – Component3, a fully repaired mesh

If we turn on the visibility for the section analysis, we can quickly see that the mesh body we repaired still has a hollow cross-section and can be 3D-printed, as shown in Figure 1.29:

Figure 1.29 – A section analysis view of the repaired mesh body

As a final sanity check, it is always